Unscented: The Alpha’s Deception

Indebted

Kai’s POV

The moment Jensen’s presence faded, his sweet peach blossom scent thinning against the evening air, I knew it was my cue.

I rose from the filthy floor, wiped the fake blood from my lip, and stretched briefly before walking out of the room.

By the time I reached the casino exit, I had already slumped back into character, one hand pressed to my stomach, barely holding myself upright.

He was still here. Even through the strong evening breeze, even wrapped in layers of suppressants, his scent reached me the way it always had. Hidden from the world. Never from me.

I slowed my steps deliberately.

Call me back. Pity me.

The thoughts ran a steady loop as I dragged myself along the street like something the city had already discarded. Everything depended on this moment. Years of carefully constructed planning balanced on whether Jensen could walk away from a suffering human.

I already knew he couldn't.

My wolf pressed against the edges of my control, restless and dissatisfied as always. Had I given him even a fraction of what he wanted, Jensen would have been locked away from the world long ago.

I'd breed him, hide him so he's seen by no one, touched by no one. But I had always known what that would cost. A caged mate was not a willing one. Jensen’s hatred was not something I was willing to earn.

So I dragged myself along the pavement and waited.

A hand caught my arm from behind. A beta male.

Goosebumps rose immediately on that side of my body, the instinctive revulsion of being touched by someone who wasn't him.

I turned before I could stop myself, the cold settling into my features without permission. Had the suppressants not been running through my system, the man would have already been on his knees.

He released me the moment he saw my face, visibly startled.

"My boss wants to see you."

He was broad enough to block me from Jensen’s line of sight. I used the cover. Softened my expression back into something appropriately overwhelmed and confused.

"Who is your boss?"

The guard looked at me like I had said something offensive. "Mr. Jensen Hayes. CEO and founder of Hayes Biotech." He grabbed my arm. "Move."

He walked me to the black sedan idling at the curb and pushed me into the backseat.

Jensen sat alone, looking devastatingly unbothered, his pretty doe eyes catching the low light of the street. He was unwrapping a lollipop and then licking it way too seductively.

"How much?"

I blinked. "Sorry?"

"How much do you owe?" He slipped the lollipop between his lips.

For a moment, I forgot entirely what I was supposed to be doing. His mouth was distracting in ways I was not currently equipped to manage. The silence stretched a beat too long and he looked at me.

I cleared my throat. "Originally, five million dollars . But I defaulted for months, and the interest compounded. It's seven million now."

His eyes moved over me slowly, head to toe, with the particular assessment of someone calculating exactly how a person arrived at their own ruin. I balled my fists against my thighs and let myself look appropriately small under the weight of it.

"How does someone like you owe that much?"

I laughed, the sound coming out thin and tired. "Family debt. A gambler father and a very sick mother. You don't want to hear the whole story."

"You're right, I don't." He bit into his candy and looked ahead. "I don’t like sob stories ."

"I'm sorry but I —"

He tapped the driver’s headrest twice. The driver started the engine. "Hospital," he said simply, leaned his head back, and closed his eyes.

The car interior dimmed as the tinted windows took over, and I stared at him shamelessly. His long lashes rested against his cheeks. His soft mouth was still faintly sweet from the lollipop.

Outside, he looked like someone designed specifically to make people regret approaching him. But with pathetic human males, he was different, softer in ways he would never allow himself to be with anyone he considered a threat.

I had watched him long enough to know that version of him existed. I was jealous of every human who had ever seen it without earning it.

In no time, we reached his hospital. The surprising location he took me to.

"I'll only be a few minutes, Mr. Hayes." The omega doctor in her mid-thirties, smiled at Jensen before gesturing me toward the examination table and stepping out briefly.

She introduced herself warmly and began the examination. I watched her with quiet recognition. Not personal, but pack connection.

Her mind was open the way unguarded wolves always were, the particular characteristic of someone who had stopped maintaining their walls a long time ago. A rogue.

She paused mid-examination. Her hands stilled.

"You're healing," she said carefully.

"And your life is in my hands, rogue." I pushed the words through the mindlink, quiet and absolute. "You didn't see that. You helped a human with surface injuries. Do you understand what your alpha is telling you?"

She nodded, hands trembling faintly as she recognized me. I messaged Vincent to run a check on her before she left the building tonight. Then I guided her composure back into place before she called Jensen back in.

She told him exactly what I needed her to say. Surface injuries. Rest. Nothing alarming.

After she left, I stood up, pill bottle in hand as I faced him . "Thank you, Mr. Hayes. You are a lifesaver. I couldn't afford this in my wildest dreams. I…I am grateful even if I don’t deserve it."

"Mmm." Jensen stared at me for a long moment, legs still crossed, expression unreadable.

Then he stood, crossed the distance between us, and brushed a speck of dust from my shoulder with two fingers, the gesture almost absurd given the state of my clothes.

"You're really pathetic, aren't you?"

It wasn't a question. I looked at my feet. "I'm sorry for being a bother tonight."

He tilted his head, studying me the way he studied formulas, looking for the flaw, the inconsistency, the thing that didn't add up. Whatever he found or didn't find, he made his decision.

"You're in luck, number sixteen." He slid his night shades up. "I'm feeling generous, so I'll only offer this once. Resign from TJN Pharmaceuticals, and you can be one of my boys."